Four posted three or more goals Wednesday afternoon, as Morrisville State College men’s lacrosse rolled to a 16-4 North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) victory over visiting SUNY IT on Drake Field in Morrisville.
The Mustangs pick up their first win of the season to improve their record to 1-4, 1-0 in conference action, while the Wildcats have yet to notch one in the victory category, falling to 0-8 on the season, 0-1 in conference play.
Freshman Louis Geswaldo (Lafayette, N.Y.) tallied a collegiate high four goals and three assists for seven team points, while adding five ground balls and two caused turnovers to lead Morrisville State. Jeremy Beresovoy (Jamesville, N.Y.) followed with four tallies, assisting another two, while teammates David Middlemore (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) and Brendan Shannon (Stanhope, N.J.) each collected three scores.
Shannon also assisted two, while teammates Jeremy Bunn (Penn Yan, N.Y.) and Casey Jean (Tully, N.Y.) rounded out Mustang scoring with one apiece.
Freshman keeper Chris Fiore (Staten Island, N.Y.) turned away seven in three quarters of play to earn his first collegiate victory in net. Tyler Catalfano (Rochester, N.Y.) replaced Fiore in the final quarter, and kept the Wildcats at length, posting five saves to secure the conference victory.
Kevin Gardrvits and Denver Babowicz each posted two goals for the Wildcats in their efforts.
Jeffrey Melnik recorded the loss between the pipes, registering 14 saves in 48 minutes of play, before being replaced by Robert Cicak for the final 12.
After opening with back and forth play, the Mustangs took advantage of the quickness of Bunn who dodged his way through the Wildcat defense to post the first tally of the afternoon on the crease doorstep nearly six minutes in. Within minutes, Jean added another for Morrisville State for the two goal advantage.
Babowicz was able to get the Wildcats on the board at the 6:53 mark, firing one past Fiore for the tally, and added another minutes later following two additional Mustang scores, but the Morrisville State offense went on attack, netting three straight for a 7-2 advantage after the opening quarter.
Morrisville State registered three additional scores in the second to take a commanding 10-2 lead into the break, and outscored SUNYIT 6-2 in the final two quarters to collect the victory.
The Mustangs dominated the Wildcats in shots, 45-24 and held the 45-31 advantage in ground balls. SUNYIT struggled on the face-off as Morrisville State won 15-of-23 at the center line.
Morrisville State returns to the field Saturday, hosting defending NEAC tournament champion Keuka College, at 12 p.m. on Drake Field.